Carver and the Wolf
by Tres Mechante
Summary: “He did what had to be done, so why the hell did he feel so…guilty?”


**Carver and the Wolf**   
By Tres Mechante  
  
**Disclaimer:** Law & Order: Criminal Intent does not belong to me in any way shape or form. I have not stolen the characters, merely borrowed them for a while. The only profit derived from this story is a decent night's sleep through the temporary silencing of the muse who keeps whispering "what if..."  
  
**Summary:** "He did what had to be done, so why the hell did he feel so...guilty?"  
  
**A/N:** Major spoilers for _**The Pardoners Tale**_ (s.1). The story picks up in the last moments of the episode.  
  
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A.D.A. Ron Carver savored the feeling of victory as he watched Richard Ufland being escorted into the building. He was realistic enough to know this may not be enough to bring down the governor for bribery, but he would enjoy prosecuting Ufland for murder.  
  
Carver commented to the two detectives, "They should teach this case at the governor's school of government."  
  
Detective Robert Goren leaned toward him, "Law school ethics class – that's where they should teach it, Counselor." And with that Goren and his partner Detective Alex Eames walked off.  
  
His grin faded. The sweet taste of victory had suddenly acquired a sour edge.  
  
--- --- ---  
  
He glanced at the clock, barely able to make out the time – 3:30. He'll be getting up for work in a couple of hours. With a heavy sigh, Ron Carver wandered over to the bar and poured himself another drink.  
  
Illuminated only by the city lights coming through the window, the room took on a surreal quality; everything was familiar and yet looked unfamiliar. Carver's lips quirked at the notion his physical setting perfectly matched his mental state.  
  
He tried to understand why the Ufland case nagged at him. He did what had to be done, so why the hell did he feel so...guilty? Ice clinked in the glass as he took a sip of his drink.  
  
And just who did they think they were to question him like that? To imply his morality was somehow in question. Ice clinked a little louder at this thought. The scum he prosecuted did not play by some nice neat set of rules. Sometimes the rules had to be bent to get the job done.  
  
"We are supposed to be better than the people that we're prosecuting," Goren had chastised him earlier. Didn't matter. Ufland was not going to get away.  
  
Funny one to talk, though, he thought. He'd lost count of the number of times rules were bent or outright broken when Goren and Eames were hot on someone's trail. Wanting to dodge his own demons, Carver happily pursued that thought.  
  
Goren and Eames. He hadn't seen any statistics, but wouldn't be surprised if they had the highest solve rate in Major Case. The way they played suspects to get confessions was almost legendary.  
  
Carver shook his head as he thought of all the times those two had ignored red herrings and zeroed in on the real culprit regardless of what anyone else thought. And it was the two of them together. They complemented each other, balanced one another, each keeping the other honest and focused. Goren's tactics confounded everyone around him. Except Eames. She seemed to just take it all in stride, with rarely more than a raised eyebrow at her partners antics.  
  
Even when they disagreed about a tactic or approach, there was always this underlying sense of ...respect, trust. No matter how much they disagreed on something, they backed each other. If methods were called into question, they projected a united front, whatever their personal opinions might be. Carver sighed at that.  
  
Maybe that's where his disquiet came from. He was alone, very much alone. Any decision made was his alone. Any consequences were borne by him, alone. True he had a first-rate staff, but not an actual partner. And now he wondered if he would have approached the Ufland case any differently had he been able to bounce his ideas off a partner. His boss wanted results and his staff did what they were told. Friends could only be told so much before the confidentiality was compromised and colleagues had their own battles to fight.  
  
Did he do the right thing?  
  
"Ron? Is everything okay?" came the concerned voice of his wife. "Where are you?"  
  
"Here, Baby," he replied.  
  
"What are you doing sitting in the dark? It's almost four o'clock," she chided gently.  
  
Wrapping his arm around her as she perched on the arm of the chair, Carver looked up at her. "Just reviewing the details of a case."  
  
"It's the one on the news, isn't it? Ufland? You have some doubts about the case," she said with certainty. Sometimes, that woman was just too damn perceptive, he thought with a grin.  
  
"I was just thinking that things might have been handled a little differently," he admitted.  
  
"So that's what you've been doing – talking to the wolf," she said, sliding down onto his lap.  
  
Carver looked at the beautiful woman in his arms as though she'd lost her mind. "Excuse me?"  
  
"That's what it's called, the hour of the wolf," she explained. "It's around this time of the night and it's when all your doubts and fears come out and start preying on your confidence."  
  
"Ah. Well, the wolf seems to have gone now that you're here."  
  
She grinned at that. "Well, there are two of us now, so the wolf doesn't stand a chance. Baby, next time wake me. I know you can't tell me all the details, but you don't have to be alone. We're partners, remember?"  
  
He smiled at her and allowed himself to be led back to bed. Taking his wife in his arms he thought smugly that while Goren and Eames might be partners on cases, they did not have the kind of loving partnership he had with this beautiful woman.  
  
At least he didn't think they did...  
  
"Ron? You okay? You had a funny look on your face."  
  
"I'm okay. Just had a strange thought. Let's get some sleep," he said, drawing her close. Frowning in the dark, Carver shoved aside the unsettling thought of Goren and Eames having _this_ kind of relationship as well. It was a mental image he _really_ didn't want.  
  
And closing his eyes, he concentrated only on his own partner until sleep claimed him once more.  
  
--- --- ---  
  
"Yes, I'll hold. Thank you." Ron Carver sat back and leafed through the report he'd been working on for the last couple of weeks. He tried to review it with an unbiased eye.  
  
Leaning forward, he greeting the person on the phone. "Geoffrey! It's been a while. Or should I be calling you Dr. Hargrave?" he asked with a laugh. They chatted a few minutes, catching up on old times before Carver got down to business.  
  
"Geoff, I was wondering if we could meet for lunch or maybe drinks." His fingers idly toyed with the pages of the report as he continued. "There was a case recently that I think has a great deal of...relevance to the ethics curriculum. I'd like to discuss making a formal proposal to the faculty about including it."  
  
-End- 


End file.
